Collective Passion

A friend of mine in the commercial real estate business,
I’ll call her AF, and I had a dialogue on email about the need for more passion
in the workplace. She had this to say:

There surely is
not enough passion in the work place. I find that the

more someone feels they have "ownership" of what
they do, literally

or figuratively, the happier and more productive they are.
This really

opens the doors for creativity, passion and leadership. I
also believe

that in order for an organization to be alive and
competitive in a changing

market there needs to be both individual as well as
"collective" passion.

And how does an
organization create that sort of collective passion?

Hmm, now you
have me thinking...

AF had me thinking too, about
“ownership” and “collective passion”. It seems to me that these two concepts
are intricately linked. When a leader involves their teams and
individuals in strategic as well as tactical discussions and decisions, those
individuals and teams naturally feel more ownership for their functions and for
their collective outcomes. If done consistently, this leads naturally to
the desire to contribute more and, over time, leads to passionate efforts —
individually at first, but then collectively, that
either reverse negative trends or accelerate positive ones.

As is so often the case, the path
leads back to the leader and how they interact with their teams. Yes, once
again, it’s all about you. In 25 years of leading and watching others
lead individuals and groups large and small I have come to recognize a few
consistent elements that we should pay attention to about our leadership styles
and methods. Steven Covey taught us years ago to always “Begin with the
end in mind.” With our goal being “collective passion” let’s begin with
that end in mind.

While not an exhaustive list, here are six key leadership
methods to move toward “collective passion”:

1. Assess your team’s talents & roles

Whether this is your first day
with a new team, or the 10th year with the same group you must
assess your team’s talents regularly – I recommend 2x annually. This
allows you to ensure your people are in the roles that make the best use of
their unique talents (good for them, good for you). This process, when
done correctly, provides the format for a meaningful discussion with each
individual about what they find enriching and what they find unnecessary about
their roles and a rich dialogue about how they imagine how they can
contribute most effectively. Over time, people migrate to where they are
most effective, on their own or with your courageous coaching. In the
end, you have built an environment of trustworthiness.

2. Trust your team

To be effective you must
trust your team. Always assume they deserve it until they prove
otherwise. I have always trusted my teams and have rarely been
disappointed. It is liberating when you finally trust. And don’t
think trusting you is automatic just because you are
the “boss”. Earn their trust through trusting them, through honest
dialogue, and through consistency.

3. Listen – with all your senses

We all know we are supposed to
listen. Most of us were taught at some point “listen twice as much as we
talk – that is why we were given two ears and one mouth”. But most of us
don’t, either because we are too self-absorbed or too busy or both. I
know you’re brilliant and that your people desperately need to know everything
in that brilliant brain of yours… Or do they? To develop collective
passion, you must listen – and not just with your ears. Listen with your
eyes (body language), and with your heart. If you pause and really
“listen”, you can often “hear” what your people are not saying but desperately
need you to hear. It is one of the basic human needs we all have – to be
heard. Start listening today!

4. Provide challenging, meaningful
work

Despite popular belief, people do
not find satisfaction in a job due to the size of their paycheck or due to
their titles. They find satisfaction when they believe their work is
meaningful. The good news is that all work is meaningful in the
right context. Your job as a leader is to articulate to your team why
their work is meaningful. Workers driving rivets into steel panels can
feel their work has meaning when they know these steel panels will ensure that
buildings will be safely constructed due to their diligence. Garbage men
& women (sanitation engineers in the PC parlance) feel their work has
meaning when they know they are contributing to a beautiful city. A
medical files clerk can feel his work has meaning when he knows that he’s potentially
saving lives by enabling doctors to ensure accurate diagnoses due to accurate
records. Surely you can determine why the work your team is doing has
meaning.

5. Recognize and acknowledge – or
put more simply, say“Thank you!”

I have found that the two most
powerful words in my leadership vocabulary are “Thank you”. Even when a
leader knows to practice recognition, they tend to only recognize outstanding
performance and unusually strong results – and ignore the quality work their
people are producing every day. On the other hand, they also tend to
focus on the smallest of errors and the occasional poor performance.
Spend your communication time recognizing everyday good work and results
– not in a theatrical way. Just say thank you. Do this for a week
and you will see an amazing difference in morale, productivity and smiles!

6.Give your
team the successes and own the setbacks

When discussing your team’s performance with others, a
true leader allows the team to take credit for all victories and takes
responsibility for all setbacks:

“My team produced a 10%
sales increase.”And “I missed
the sales target by 5%.”

You will, of course, hold your
team and individuals accountable for their performance. But when speaking to others,
your team will know you put them first and never publicly speak ill of them.

To summarize, when people are in
appropriate roles based on their talents, are trusted, are “heard”, have
meaningful work that is recognized with simple thanks, and when public
victories are theirs, but public failures are yours…magic happens. People
actually show up to work, on time, and get to work to produce amazing
results! None of the six points are difficult and they don’t need to be
attempted in any particular order. Just start! Take action today on
one of the six areas and watch your team move to collective passion!

Can
you or your organization benefit from working with me?Of course you can!Please visit www.osoriogroup.com and learn about my
programs as well as my consulting and coaching services.Or contact me directly at mike@osoriogroup.com or 541-227-8381 and
let’s get started.
You’ll be glad you did!